1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method.
2. Related Art
Printing apparatuses that print by applying ink onto a recording medium have been used in the related art (for example, refer to JP-A-2006-239866). The printing apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2006-239866 is provided with a transport unit that transports a recording medium, and multiple nozzles (ink jet heads) that discharge ink onto the recording medium, which is transported, while moving in a direction that intersects a transport direction of the recording medium.
Generally, multiple nozzles are disposed in a row form of two rows as a first nozzle row and a second nozzle row. The first nozzle row and the second nozzle row are disposed adjacent to and parallel to one another along the transport direction of the recording medium. In addition, the first nozzle row and the second nozzle row are disposed so that the end sections of the first nozzle row and the second nozzle row overlap when viewed from a direction that intersects with the transport direction of the recording medium.
In such a printing apparatus, printing is generally performed in the manner that is shown in FIGS. 3A to 3D. Firstly, all of the nozzles of the first nozzle row and the second nozzle row discharge the ink (an nth time). Further, the ink jet heads are moved in a direction that intersects the transport direction of the recording medium by an amount that is equivalent to a single nozzle row, and the ink is discharged (an n+1th time). At this time, nozzles of an overlapping section, in which the first printing row and the second printing row overlap, do not discharge the ink. Printing is performed as shown in FIGS. 4B to 4E as a result of the nozzles of the overlapping section repeating the discharge and non-discharge of the ink in this manner.
Given that, in a case in which the distance between each nozzle and the recording medium is comparatively large, it is easy for a phenomenon in which the ink discharged from each nozzle does not land directly therebelow, that is, in which landing positions are shifted, to occur. In particular, there is a tendency for the shifting of the landing positions to be significant for the ink discharged from nozzles positioned in the end sections of the first nozzle row and the second nozzle row (refer to FIGS. 5A and 5B). Therefore, the shifting of the landing positions is significant for the ink discharged from the nozzles of the overlapping section. As a result of this, it is likely that a deterioration in the image quality of a formed image on the recording medium will occur.